(I do write things OTHER than slavefics, but hey: I enjoy what I enjoy.)

I don't mind stories where the author takes for granted that "So there are slaves AND THIS IS HOTT" when it's a PWP: a story which is 90%> sex scene ought not to be held to the usual standards of backstory and worldbuilding.

But even then, the author can throw something into the story that will just kick me out of enjoying it: do something really horrible to the slave (or have the owner do something horrible) that isn't tolerable when the story is ignoring the actual impact of something like that.

If there are going to be really horrible things happen, things that aren't just "OH HAI, COLLARS EROTIC PUNISHMENTS HOTT SEX" (which are fine stories to read, I'm not complaining!) then there should be plot and character development in which the author takes the room to acknowledge that when something like that happens to a person, it has an impact on them, on their character and on their future life.

And yeah: reading a story, no matter how short it is, where the author was sending the message that the *author* thinks slavery can be justified, really puts me off. I suppose because I do find slavery erotic: and yet I'm perfectly conscious that I find it erotic as a literary conceit, that neither I nor anyone I care about has ever been at risk of being enslaved: and that this is a highly privileged situation to be in, even today. Am I just self-consciously trying to be aware of my privilege, by always having it front-and-centre that slavery is *wrong*? If I need to do that in order to make myself feel better about writing slavefics, should I be writing slavefics at all?

...but at the same time, it does seem to be one of those self-evident statements that shouldn't really need making: Slavery is always wrong. It can never be justified. It doesn't fix any societal problems: it wouldn't be justifiable if it did, but it just creates more.